Carrie Coon Joins a Cult in First Trailer for The Liberation

By Elena Vasquez

Bleecker Street has debuted the first trailer for The Liberation, Guy Nattiv's cult drama starring Carrie Coon, ahead of an NYC awards-qualifying run beginning this week and a wide release on January 8.

The film premiered on the fall festival circuit, screening at Telluride and the Toronto International Film Festival. Coon's performance drew considerable acclaim across both festivals. The January date follows the standard awards-season pattern: a one-week qualifying run in New York now, a broader platform release in the new year.

What does the trailer reveal?

The newly released footage introduces the film's central conflict. Coon plays Rita, a woman in midlife haunted by the weight of her past. She encounters Ricki, a magnetic young spiritual leader played by Lily James, and leaves her family to follow her to an all-female commune.

The stakes tighten when Rita's daughters arrive unexpectedly. Both become drawn into the group's seductive world. According to the official synopsis, Rita must ultimately choose between the family she left behind and the life she believes can save her.

The cast lists three generations of acclaimed actresses:

• Carrie Coon as Rita, the mother who joins the commune
• Lily James as Ricki, the commune's spiritual leader
• Bella Ramsey as Ella, the younger daughter
• Odessa Young as Jo, the older daughter

Tracy Letts, Coon's real-life husband, is stunt-cast as her husband in the film's 1982 sequences.

How does the story unfold across two timelines?

The narrative spans two eras, with sequences set in 1982 and 1984. The Film Stage's review, written by Alistair Ryder from the film's BFI London screening, details how the timelines divide the daughters' fates: the younger tries to save her mother while the older becomes hypnotized by Ricki's way of life.

Ryder wrote: "The Liberation is most effective in its 1984 stretches––although the absence of a delightfully crotchety Tracy Letts, stunt cast as Coon's husband in the 1982 sequences, is felt––as the younger daughter tries saving her mother while the older becomes hypnotized by Ricki's way of life. It increasingly resembles a thriller about walls closing in on the family, especially when Ella realizes how disastrous the anti-healthcare policy could be if her diabetic sister is left to fend for herself, and Ramsey has one of her best theatrical showcases as the emotional center of this stretch."

The review's sharpest observation concerns plot mechanics: the commune's anti-healthcare policy becomes a genuine danger because Jo is diabetic. That detail turns the family drama into what Ryder calls a thriller about walls closing in, and it gives Ramsey one of her strongest showcases to date as the film's emotional center.

What comes next?

The awards-qualifying run begins this week in New York, with the full release set for January 8 through Bleecker Street. The rollout positions Coon, whose festival reception was strong, as a contender in a competitive season — with the January date giving the film a second theatrical life after its qualifying window closes.